The Expansion of the Sport Goods Industry

International audienceThe importance of sport in the European countries has increased significantly over the lastdecade. Sport has become more relevant economically and socially for various reasons. Socialaspects include sport participation, sport for health and economic activities directly or indirectlyrelated to sport (Breedveld et al., 2013; Dolles & Söderman, 2011). European sport policyinitiatives such as the White Paper on Sport (Commission of the European Communities, 2007)or the Study on the Contribution of Sport to Economic Growth and Employment in theEuropean Union (SportsEconAustria, 2012) show an increasing interest in sport from a politicalperspective.This chapter focuses on one major economic aspect of sport – the sport goods industry. Itconsists of three sections, a case study and conclusions. The first section gives definitions forsport, sport industry and sport goods industry. The chapter then follows the expansion of thesport goods industry in Europe over the last five years (based on MarketLine (2015a) industryreports). This expansion is analysed by comparing the market value of the sport goods industrywithin Europe and the US. We look at the value of trade in the European sport goodsindustry and also compare the sport goods industry with other sport industry segments. Wethen discuss the major drivers of growth in the European sport goods industry and differentfirm-level strategic approaches. The third section discusses Contemporary and FutureCritiques. Our case study explores the expansion of a large French sport goods retailer andmanufacturer. We close with reflections on the case